Harbour City, Hong Kong’s biggest shopping mall, is expanding to provide dining options, decks for viewing the harbour and a permanent home for customs and immigration services for cruise passengers.

Work on the five-storey extension to the western end of Ocean Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui is expected to be finished by the end of the year, with each floor featuring a free observation deck offering 270-degree panoramic views of Victoria Harbour.

The Harbour City expansion will add 100,000 sqft (9300 sqm) of space to Harbour City, part of Ocean Terminal, which already has around 2 million sqft of floor space and 450 shops.

There will be no shops in the extension, however, which will be devoted to restaurants and other dining outlets.

At the moment, a temporary customs hall comes into play whenever a ship docks at the 51-year-old retail hub.

“There will also be a proper loading area for cruises,” says an Ocean Terminal spokeswoman.

Next to the Star Ferry’s Tsim Sha Tsui pier, Ocean Terminal opened in March 1966 as the world’s first marine pier integrated with a shopping centre, and Asia’s first US-style shopping mall.